Writing Pros Explain What Goes on a Homepage

Putting a website together is hard work when you have to do it all yourself. No matter what platform you use — WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, GoDaddy or even HTML — you have to make lots of decisions and somehow trust that it’s all going to work out. If you get any one of factors wrong, it can lead to an ineffective, invisible or just plain awful website.

And arguably the most important page of your site is your homepage. It’s the first page most visitors see and the root of your whole site. So what goes on a homepage? Welcome to a primer on that very topic, presented to you by the professional content providers at Ray Access.

What Does a Homepage Have to Do?

Before getting to what goes on a homepage, let’s explain the role your homepage has to fill. This will go a long way to help you understand the rest of this article. With this in mind, your homepage has to:

• Capture your visitors’ attention
• Introduce your business
• Reinforce that your visitors are in the right place
• Give your visitors something to read, watch and/or do
• Direct your visitors to your interior pages

Ultimately, your homepage has to do everything possible to keep visitors on your site. Assuming a visitor arrives looking for something that your business does, you have about 30 seconds to make your pitch, according to the Nielsen Norman Group. That’s a lot to ask of one web page.

So What Goes on a Homepage?

There are seven things that you absolutely, positively must put on your website homepage to accomplish your goals and keep visitors on your site longer than 30 seconds. Consider:

1. Your business name and tagline. Don’t keep visitors guessing where they ended up. Your business name must be front and center. Include a tagline that defines your business or competitive advantage. For example, your tagline may be: “Better than doing it yourself” or “The best resource for doing it yourself.
    
2. Your contact information. Believe it or not, some visitors to your website want to contact you without much prodding. You’re doing them a disservice if you don’t list your hours and contact information (location, phone number and email address) right where they can find it easily. This one of the most frequently missed items of what goes on a homepage.
    
3. An easy-to-follow navigation menu. How you direct your visitors to more information makes a huge difference in how they interact with your site. Keep your menu options clear: Products, Services, FAQs, About, Contact — whatever makes sense for your business. For example, Ray Access has two types of clients: businesses and agencies, so our menu directs each to a separate menu of choices. Above the fold.
    
4. Calls to action. Give your visitors something to do, whether it’s a contact form to fill out or an opportunity to learn more about your business. Make your call-to-action button big and obvious. Give it a distinct color. You can have more than one call-to-action on your homepage, but one should be primary. What do visitors want from your business?
    
5. Effective content. You need to state your case and explain why you’re in business. When it comes to what goes on a homepage, this is the essence. The content on your homepage has to give your pitch:
   • Your primary market or audience — who are you selling to?
   • The problem you solve for your customers — what benefits do your customers get from you?
   • Your competitive advantage — why should visitors buy from you?
   • Several testimonials or social proof — who else has bought from you?
   • Compelling reasons to dig deeper — why should visitors click to your interior pages?
      
6. Arresting media. Capture your visitors’ attention. If you have a video explaining your business or your competitive advantage, put it on your homepage. Use interesting, unusual or vibrant images on the page. Stock images get old fast. Everything on your homepage needs to relate to the issues you can solve for your visitors.
    
7. SEO keywords. Part of what goes on a website is what helps bring people to it. That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) keywords come in. Ray Access believes in one percent keyword density — that’s one keyword for every 100 words — which works without hitting visitors over the head again and again, because no one likes that.

Now that you know what goes on a homepage, go ahead and create your awesome website. But if you need help with effective content, Ray Access has for professional writers and editors who do it right for you.

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.